Rinse and Repeat
by Pied Piper 1830
Summary: While waiting for Kagome to return from school, Inu-Yasha finds himself tricked into allowing Kagome's mother to give him a bath.


Title: Bath Time

Author: Pied Piper

Rating: PG-13 (for Inu-Yasha's potty mouth)

Warnings: none

Disclaimer: Inu-Yasha is not owned by me.  
  
'Go back down the well Inu-Yasha, I'll follow you around 4:30, when school's out. Bye!' Inu-Yasha snorted as he remembered Kagome's words as she ran out of the house earlier that morning. 4:30, yea right. Last time she said that, he had waited outside the well until seven o'clock until he had finally given up, jumped in after her, and dragged all the way back home, ignoring her complaints of coming down with a cold. True, she hadn't slept well that night (and had kept him awake as well with her sneezes and moans), and he had woken up with a cup of ramen dumped on his head, but that was no excuse for her to lie about when she was coming back. But this time . . . this time he would make sure that she came home when she said she would.  
"Hey, um . . . Dog Boy!" a female voice yelled from the ground.  
Dog Boy?! Inu-Yasha shifted a little on his branch so that he could see the ground, and glared at Kagome's mother. "Excuse me?" he snarled.  
"Come down here a minute, I need your help."  
"Go away." He sniffed indigently: Dog boy, the nerve of her.  
Kagome's mother thought for a minute: what was it that . . . whatever his name was had liked so much? Oh yes, ramen. "I'll make you some ramen!"  
Inu-Yasha's ears perked up despite of him, and the thought of that warm, noodle-y texture with that delightful aroma made his stomach growl loudly. He jumped down from the tree and stood up, making himself as tall as he could. "My name," he stated with a dangerous tone in his voice, "is Inu-Yasha, not 'Dog Boy."  
But she didn't appear to be listening. In fact, she was acting rather strangely. Inu-Yasha raised his eyebrows as he wondered why she had covered her nose so quickly. He didn't smell anything unusual.  
"What is it, woman?" he asked.  
She took her hand away from her nose and grimaced. "What is that awful smell?" she asked.  
He sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything.  
Kagome's mother leaned in and took a long whiff of his sleeve. "Yup," she stated, "I thought so. Come on, I'm giving you a bath."  
"A bath?!" Inu-Yasha crossed his arms and sat down in his typical, crossed legged position. "I am not going anywhere wench." Just to be sure, he sniffed his arm as well. He didn't smell that bad. Sure, the last demon had been a bit . . . pungent, and it had been gross when his remains splattered all over his body, but he didn't smell that bad. "And I do not sme-WAH!" He fell backwards as a stream of ice-cold water coming from a long green snake soaked him. A demon? "Demon, be gone!" he yelled as he cut off the head of the green snake, then stared at Kagome's mother, who was holding one end of the snake. Was she a demon too?  
She glared at him, her eyes cold. "You broke our hose."  
"It was a demon!" Was she really that dumb?  
"You broke our hose."  
"It was a demon you wench!"  
She threw the demon down. "It was an inanimate object that squirts water, and you broke it!"  
He peered at the hose. Maybe it wasn't a demon after all. "Hmph, where's my ramen, woman?"  
"You may have your ramen after your bath."  
Inu-Yasha thought for a minute, then shook his head: it wasn't worth it. Darn, and he had really wanted his ramen too.  
"I'll say the 's' word," Kagome's mother warned.  
Snickering, he shook his head, fingering the prayer beads. "You can't, you're not Kagome."  
"But I'm her mother, how do you know I can't do it also?" She sounded like she would, too.  
He didn't want to take that risk: being sat by Kagome was humiliating enough, being sat by a woman who just hosed him down like a dog would be even worse.  
"Now come on, it won't take more than thirty minutes if you cooperate." She walked into the house, and Inu-Yasha followed, glaring at her heals as she led him into the bathroom.  
Inu-Yasha had never really liked Kagome's bathroom. Sure, it was clean and, well . . .clean. It was very white, and not at all natural. And then there was that thing she called a toilet; that strange, shiny white thing that she expected him to aim into whenever he was in her house, then push the lever that made the loud noise and swirling water. No thank you, he'd take a tree any day.  
Kagome's mother turned a few knobs in the large white basin and, as water began pouring out, Inu-Yasha couldn't help but to strain his neck in curiosity. "Why's it so big?" he asked, then shook his head and crossed his arms, "Not that I care, of course."  
She looked back and smiled. "So you can get in, and get clean. Now, take your clothes off."  
She said it with such a pleasant voice that Inu-Yasha almost found himself obeying, until he stopped quickly and glared. "What?!"  
"I said take your clothes off."  
"Beg me to," he spat.  
Kagome's mother blinked, then giggled softly. "Oh, don't tell me you're embarrassed." A quick glance at the half demon told her she was correct. "Come on, it's not like I haven't seen what you have before." No response. She sighed and turned the water off. "All right, how about I get you a pair of swimming trunks to change into." Inu-Yasha did nothing for a minute, and then gave the smallest of nods. "Stay here," she instructed, "I'll be back in a minute." He glared at her as she left and crossed his arms again. Take his clothes off, how dare she.  
She returned a few minutes later with a pair of green swimming trunks and Inu-Yasha snatched from her hands and examined them with hidden interest. "What's that say?" he asked as he pointed to some English on the back of the trunks.  
"I don't know," Kagome's mother lied, "I don't read English." 'Sweet cheeks' she thought, but better not let him know.  
Satisfied with the answer, Inu-Yasha nodded. "Turn around, and if you even think about looking, I'll claw your eyes out, wench."  
"Now that's not a very nice thing to say," Kagome's mother chided, but turned around none-the-less and waited patiently as the self-conscious half demon changed. "Finished yet?"  
There was a long pause. "Yea"  
"Hop in the tub then please, and we'll try to make this quick."  
Inu-Yasha grumbled, but hopped in as instructed, thoroughly drenching the bathroom with the force of his hop. Kagome's mother glared. "Was that intentional?" she asked coldly.  
"Was what intentional?" He sighed and leaned back against the tub: the water felt nice; nice and warm.  
"Jumping in and getting me wet."  
He looked up, confused, "I didn't jump; I hopped, just like you told me to."  
Kagome's mother sighed. Honestly, their cats had more sense than that boy. She handed him a bar of soap, which he took and peered at. "What's this?" he asked.  
Oh dear lord, had he never taken a bath before? "Have you never taken a bath before?" she asked in dismay.  
Inu-Yasha puffed out his chest. "'Course I have: I take them sometimes when I find a river or a hot spring or something."  
"Then surely you must know what soap is." She breathed a sigh of relief.  
"What's soap?"  
She grabbed the bar and held it in front of his nose. "This," she began, "is soap. You rub it all over your body, then wash it off."  
He sniffed it, then took it back. "I think I remember my mom having something like this." He shrugged, and cleaned himself with the soap as instructed. "Am I done yet?" he asked.  
"No, I still need to wash your hair. Hold your breath." Kagome's mother pushed Inu-Yasha's head under the water, then guided him back up.  
He sputtered and shook his head quickly, trying to dry his hair. "Now, am I done?"  
"Almost, close your eyes." She took a bottle and poured a glob of it in her palm, then began to rub it in his hair.  
The half demon remained docile for the first few minutes, then gave a yelp and swiped at one of her hands with his claw. She hissed and smacked his hand. "What was that for," she yelled.  
"You hurt my eyes!" he rubbed at them furiously, trying to get the burning to stop.  
"I told you to close your eyes, now you know why. Oh stop whining you big baby, if you were Kagome, I would have spanked you."  
Inu-Yasha stopped immediately and opened his eyes as that image filled his mind, something beginning to stir below his waist. Oh no, not here not here not here not- "GAH!" He was pushed under the water again and he felt hands rubbing against his head as he tried to get up. Finally, he succeeded. "Now, am I done?"  
Kagome's mother eyed the bottle thought fully. "It says here to rinse and repeat."  
"Too bad." He stood up and shook himself dry, smirking as Kagome's mother shielded herself from his spray.  
She handed him a towel. "Dry yourself off and get dressed, I'll start some ramen." She left, and Inu-Yasha got dressed as quickly as he could before running out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, sitting down on the table expectantly.  
Kagome's mother looked up. "Sit on one of the cushions please."  
He huffed, but did as he was told, breathing in the sweet nectar of ramen deeply, and wolfing it down once it appeared in front of him. He finished, and leaned against the wall, placing his hands on his stomach contently with his feet on the table.  
"All done?"  
He nodded.  
"Would you mind moving something for me?"  
After that bathing ordeal she put him through? Yea, right. "Make me."  
Kagome's mother sighed. "Oh, all right. If you don't feel that you're strong enough, who am I to force you?"  
Inu-Yasha glared and stood up. "I'll do it, wench, where is it?"  
And Kagome's mother proceeded to get the gullible half demon to rearrange her bedroom, the living room and the dining room, before finally allowing him to go back to his tree.  
  
A few hours later, Inu-Yasha peered at a watch (that used to be Kagome's, but not anymore) closely. Four thirty-two: she was late. Just when he was about to go fetch her personally, she trudged off the sidewalk and onto the yard. He hopped down. "You're late," he glared.  
She glared back. "I had to get some more ramen."  
"You're excused-Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"  
Kagome had leaned in, and was currently sniffing his hair. "Your hair smells like roses."  
He couldn't hide a faint blush the spread across his face. "So what if it does? Do you have a problem with that?"  
She smiled and took another sniff. "No, I think it smells . . . nice. I'll go pack my bag." She left.  
Smells . . . nice? She liked it? Inu-Yasha took a strand of his hair and sniffed it. Yea, maybe it did smell kind of nice. Kagome thought so at least, and that was all that mattered.

Shortly after dinner, and long after Kagome and Inu-Yasha had left, Kagome's mother walked into the bathroom and looked around. Surprisingly, it was not that much of a mess. A few towels lay on the ground, and the trunks were . . . not there. Her shampoo was missing too. But where could they have gone . . . ?  
Five hundred years away, Inu-Yasha sat on a tree branch, keeping watch as he told Kagome, but actually reading the label on the shampoo. "Rinse and repeat," he whispered to himself, "it does say to rinse and repeat." Would his hair smell even better if he repeated? Would it make him irresistible to Kagome? It had too; she liked it so much before, and his hair was only half cleaned then. Smirking, he hopped off the tree, shampoo in one hand, and trunks in the other. Kagome would never know what hit her.


End file.
